Girard-Perregaux’s Haute Horlogerie collection is now enriched with the new Constant Escapement model. Girard-Perregaux’s research and development team has spent no less than five years to make this important step in watchmaking history possible.
Girard-Perregaux || The Constant Escapement also refers to a holy grail in mechanical watchmaking, or the constant force, as a guarantee of precision and constancy of a mechanical timepiece. A mechanical watch works as the regulating organ manages the flow rate of the energy that drives the watch components, at the certain speed and at certain regularity. The essential thing is that the movement keeps the beat, no matter how slow of fast it is, over time. The Swiss lever escapement is invented to help the timepiece run entirely free of interference from the escapement, during most of the operating cycle. However, the lever escapement it can only give back the energy it receives from the barrel, which lessens over time.
The constant force escapement has an important advantage over the lever escapement since it returns a constant energy to the regulator, no matter how much of the energy it receives from the barrel. Girard-Perregaux has managed to solve this problem by embedding an intermediate component into the escapement – a device made of thin blade that stores up energy up to a constant threshold, and then conducts it all directly, before restarting the cycle. According to the official press release from Girard-Perregaux, the system works just the same as the phenomenon of instability (buckling) which anyone can repeat with a business card. If you hold a card vertically between thumb and forefinger, bending it to form a C, the pressure is felt until the card snaps to the other side to mirror its former shape:
“The silicon blade measures one sixth of a hair’s thickness and plays the role of a micro-accumulator of energy. This blade is flexed to a point as close as possible to its unstable state, and only needs an infinitesimal quantity of energy – a micro-impulse given by the balance wheel (less perturbing than in a lever escapement) – for it to snap from one state to the other, and in the process, to push the balance wheel forward, compensating for the variable energy of the barrel and liberating the same quantity of energy every time. ”
The very first model in the Haute Horlogerie Constant Escapement Collection features a silicon blade. However, the blade may be replaced by other materials to match the movement’s aesthetic. The new model is crafted in white gold and it features 48 mm in diameter. The hours and minutes indications are off-centered and shown at 12 o’clock to provide maximum visibility to the escapement itself. The linear power reserve indicator is positioned at 9 o’clock, while the whole lower part of the dial shows the Constant Escapement.
The watch is powered by Girard-Perregaux Movement MVT-009100-0007 movement that beats at 3Hz frequency. The movement provides about seven days of power reserve and it is sealed against the ingress of water to up to 30 meters. See it in action:
Girard-Perregaux Haute Horlogerie Constant Escapement is mounted on black alligator strap with white gold folding clasp and issued under the reference number 93500-53-131-BA6C.
Author: Marina Milojevic
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